When I focus on politics, when I scan through the political news, when I listen to KO and Rachel Maddow, when I see clips of O'Lielly and Sean Hannity and Palin, I begin to feel victimized and not empowered.
Now don't get me wrong. I really really love KO and RM. AND there is something about politics that I gravitate to.
But the inevitable feeling of being robbed comes over me.
Listening and reading, I begin to feel that the Health Ins. Reform and Wall Street Reform and the main street stimulus package were all less than optimal (from my pov). So I don't celebrate those victories as much as I should, even in their smaller state.
When I hear about paybacks for the TARP, again I don't celebrate that as much as I could. Instead I am worrying about 4-6 banks holding 60% of the nation's wealth in their grubby greedy little hands.
When the oil spilt into the gulf, I felt that a priceless thing had been taken away from me. I felt that the bayou, the wet lands, the Louisiana heritage that belongs to our country, the fisherfolk, the sea food mavens, all became less rich and less accessible and endangered. And, even now when the well has been capped, I am not able to celebrate feeling that there is another shoe to drop in this disaster and feeling that we will never know how bad things really are until much much later. Just as with the huge dead zone created by our run off from farms being fertilized to create "green energy" with renewable corn, we don't see it or hear about much on the news, but it is a leech on our resources in the gulf.
I haven't been able to rejoice at the 20 billion dollar fund that BP put up for compensation claims. I see that they are spreading the amount over three years and demanding that people sign agreements not to sue. While the latter is somewhat reasonable, it does nothing to allay my suspicions about BP's earnest desire to make things right.
I am not the only one who feels robbed. The Tea Baggers are more vocal and they get the news cycles. And the less stable amongst them actually do try to act out and avenge themselves on the world.
But I would like to see justice happen. I was thrilled with the overturning of Prop 8. It felt like justice. The paucity of the prop 8 proponents justification for robbing people of rights was on display for all to see. Sunlight is a very very good disinfectant.
Like many here I have suffered from age and sex discrimination which has literally robbed me of my pension and cut my savings. I have also suffered from the downturn in the economy which decimated my already small savings. Whereas wall street was made whole, we are nowhere near being made whole. Instead we are paying for wall street's boon. The cat food commission will probably try to "fix" the only good progressive programs we have at the moment: Medicare and Social Security. If they don't increase penalties for age discrimination and other forms of discrimination I think they should leave well enough alone because we will be dooming a horde of folks to abject poverty.
I do not think I am alone in having injustice perpetrated upon me. I look at the American Indians and the Blacks and the Hispanic communities as people who deserved a whole lot better than they got. Did you notice that our completely nonfunctional Senate cannot even compensate the Black farmers for the discrimination they experienced at the hands of the government?
So all my joy in our many victories is sucked dry because I am angry about continuing abuses in so many areas and I am suspicious about government official's fundamental ability to be fair, honest and aboveboard. I especially abhor the political calculation that rises above any humanistic calculation.
And I have to confess the belief that if the bankers win, I lose & if the insurance cos win, I lose & if the oil cos win, I lose & if the tea baggers win, I lose & even if wall street wins, I lose.
So what do I want?
- I want repubs to admit that the cut taxes and start wars and remove regs policies do not work.
- I want BP, the mining cos, the wall street mavens, the insurance cos to fess up that they cannot regulate themselves and that cos inherently have no morality and that people need a strong cop on the beat to protect us.
- I want stronger laws for age discrimination, sex and gender preference discrimination and minority discrimination. (After all, us whities will be a minority soon so we might consider this self interest!)
- I would like some catch up legislation for people who have disadvantages, whether poverty or disabilities, or people who give service to this country or people who can demonstrate that they have been discriminated against.
- I want a functional Senate.
- I want a vigorous, open and capable Justice Department.
I believe we could achieve 1 & 2 pretty easy if the dems would hold to that unifying message: We are for a balanced budget, fewer wars and a strong cop on the beat for consumers and our general citizenry and our workers. (True, they might have to suffer a bit from corporations not padding their campaign funds, but they might achieve just as much from other special interest groups such as environment groups etc. (who may have to abandon the 501 C and go for corporation status to be able to donate or advertise in an unlimited fashion, thanks to the SCOTUS!) And I believe that 3 & 4 will be in the dems best interest to get more voters out for their side. I believe we have to keep after our Senators to not just show up but grow up. And, I would like to see more cases and indictments against bankers, mortgage lenders, mining cos and oil cos.
But what we need is justice. A fair, honorable, honest, intelligent justice that can give us stability, harmony and strength. We've heard it said: No Justice, No Peace. Certainly we have not seen peace here at home or abroad for quite some time. We cannot keep fooling ourselves and thinking we are done if we have no fairness or openness. We have to get justice working again. It and the Senate have suffered from over politicization.